Nothing Shall Offend Them

Psalm 119:165

By: Pastor
David F. Reagan

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A while back, someone asked me the meaning of Psalm
119:165. What does it mean that those who love the love of God
shall not be offended? Are hurt feelings proof that someone does
not love God's word? Let's look at the scripture and study it for
a bit.

The
passage teaches that two wonderful benefits come to those who love
God's law. First, they will have great peace. Second, nothing
will offend them.

WHAT
THE PASSAGE MEANS:

This
is settled by answering three questions. 1) What does it mean
to love God's law? 2) What does is mean to have great peace? 3)
What state is someone in when nothing offends him?

1.
What does it mean to love God's law?

We
love God's law when we accept it as the very words of God and "very
pure"
(Ps.119:140). We love God's law when we choose it above the "vain
thoughts"
(Ps.119:113) and "lying" (Ps.119:163) of this world. We
love God's law when we choose it above the "gold" (Ps.119:127)
of this world. We love God's law when we make it our "meditation
all the day"(Ps.119:97; see also Ps.1:2; Jer.15:16). We love
God's law when we delight in doing the "commandments"
(Ps.119:47) found therein and lift them up in our lives (Ps.119:48);
when we keep His "testimonies"(Ps.119:167). We love God's
law when we delight in His judgments on the wicked (Ps.119:119). We
love God's law when we want it to transform us and "quicken" us
(Ps.119:159) according to His lovingkindness. This is only a summary
taken from Psalm 119. The remainder of the Bible tells us much
more about this great love of the believer.

2. What does it mean to have great peace?

When
I truly love God's law both in word and deed, I will have great peace
in my heart. I am not troubled by the conflicting philosophies
of the world nor drawn by its weak and beggarly elements. I live
by a higher principle and on a higher plain. I have a "great
peace", a "perfect peace" (Isa.26:3), a peace that is "not
as the world giveth" (Jn.14:27), a peace "which passeth all
understanding" (Phil.4:7).

3.
What state is someone in when nothing offends them?

The
meaning of this phrase rests on the proper understanding of the word
"offend" as used in the Bible. In modern English as commonly
spoken, the meaning of the word "offend" has narrowed greatly. The
presently accepted meaning is only a small portion of the earlier import
of the word. However, as always, scripture properly compared with
scripture, will bring its full meaning back to the surface. It
is also helpful to look at the history of the word's usage.

Etymologically, the word "offend" means "to strike against". We
still use the word in this respect when in sports or war we talk about
taking the offensive. We also see the word history when we hear
about someone who has to "fend" for himself. In its early
usage in the English language, to offend meant to strike against something
with your feet and stumble. By extension, it came to mean to cause
someone else to stumble or fall. In the Bible, this is applied
in the spiritual sense. Though some references to
"offend" in scripture carry the commonly known meaning of "creating
resentment, anger or displeasure", its special use in doctrinal
passages refers to causing someone to stumble.

Scriptures Explained

This
understanding makes the Biblical teaching about plucking our the right
eye or cutting off the right hand much clearer (Mt.5:29-30). The
stipulation is if your eye or your hand "offend thee" remove
it. Also, by context Christ is referring to an offense that would "cast
into hell". So, if your eye or hand would send you to hell,
it would be better to remove them than to go to the awful fires of
hell.

In
the parable about the seed and the sower (Mt.13:20-21), the seed that
fell on stony places had "no root in himself" and "by
and by he is offended." He is offended because he never
has been truly redeemed. Also, when Christ stated on the night
of His arrest, "All ye shall be offended because of me this night" (Mt.26:31),
He did not mean that they would get their feelings hurt.
He meant that they would quit on Him and flee for safety.

Paul's
teaching on how to deal with the weak brother states that nothing should
be done
"whereby the brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak"
(Rom.14:21). We are to take heed lest our liberty "become
a stumblingblock to them that are weak" (1Cor.8:9). In these
passages, the different forms of offend are used a number of times. Here,
the meaning of "offend" is clear.

Back to Psalm 119:165

Now,
back to Psalm 119:165. Many have made this passage to mean that,
if I truly love the law of God, nothing anyone says or does will cause
me resentment, anger or displeasure. In other words, I will never
get my feelings hurt. Perhaps this can be somewhat drawn out
of the verse, but it is a very narrow and limited understanding. If
you want to teach this, perhaps it would be better to teach from the "Charity
Chapter" – I Corinthians 13. It says much about how we should
respond to others (v.4-7).

However,
I do believe that there is a danger in teaching Psalm 199:165 in this
way. There are statements and actions that should "offend" me
in the narrow, modern sense of the word. I should be angered
and displeased by some things. And, there are some things which
people say and do that I should even resent as an affront to my God,
to His word, to His work or to His people. We need to be careful
not to use this teaching to create a wimpy "Christianity."

So,
what does Psalm 199:165 say? It teaches that when I really love
God's law (in the sense given above), nothing will become a stumblingblock
to me to keep me from serving God and obeying His word. I will
not quit on God as long as I love His law. Since the word "shall" in "nothing
shall offend" is predictive, I know that loving God's law today
is the best guarantee of future faithfulness on my part. The
Bible teaches that a man must stop loving God's law before he falls
in his service to Him. May God help us to love His law and never
cease to do so.

One
final comment: why not just change the word so that it will be more
easily understood? For one thing, you cannot change a word in
one place without messing up cross-references all over the Bible. However,
there is another, more important, reason. There is no substitute
for the word "offend" that will do the job. "Cause
to stumble" is a phrase and is narrow in other ways.
Read this quote from "Hasting's Dictionary of the Bible" (published
in 1901 and considered one of the premier Bible dictionaries in the English
language): "It is unfortunate that 'offend' and 'offence'
have lost their early meanings. As the note above shows, we have
no good word to take their place." "Offend" is still
the best word in these passages. We just need to learn what it
means--in the English language.